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Was this the woman of his wild and unquenchable early love? And was this the wo the naible outcrop of a romantic and hidden stratuination; but as far as her scope allowed, clearly defined therein by reason of its strangeness

Miss Aldclyffe's eyes and thoughts were so intent upon the miniature that she had not been conscious of Cytherea's start of surprise

She went on speaking in a low and abstracted tone

'Yes, I lost him' She interrupted her words by a short ain 'I lost hiarded my past But it was best that it should be soI was led to think rather ht because of your nah differently spelt' The only means by which Cytherea's surname could have been spelt to Miss Aldclyffe rove

She fancied Farrove would have spelt it properly if Edas his informant, which made Miss Aldclyffe's reret the which had led Miss Aldclyffe to indulge in this revelation, trifling as it was, died out immediately her words were beyond recall; and the tur upon that chapter of her life, found vent in another kind of emotion--the result of a trivial accident

Cytherea, after letting down Miss Aldclyffe's hair, adopted some plan with it to which the lady had not been accustomed A rapid revulsion to irritation ensued The ret of the lady as if she had been a jar of electricity

'How strangely you treat my hair!' she exclaimed

A silence

'I have told you what I never tell _ that I say in this room is to be mentioned outside it' She spoke crossly no less than eitated and vexed that the woreeable to her

'Why on earth did I tell you of my past?' she went on

Cytherea made no answer

The lady's vexation with herself, and the accident which had led to the disclosure swelled little by little till it knew no bounds But as done could not be undone, and though Cytherea had shown aresponsiveness, quarrel Miss Aldclyffe must She recurred to the subject of Cytherea's want of expertness, like a bitter revieho finding the sentiments of a poet unimpeachable, quarrels with his rhymes